In this sermon, the speaker shares a story about a young girl who had a life-changing encounter with the gospel message. The girl accepted Christ as her Savior and wrote a letter to her father to share the good news. The father, upon reading the letter, immediately sent a telegram asking her to come home. The speaker then introduces the topic of Romans chapter six and emphasizes the duty of yielding to the Lordship of Christ. The sermon highlights the concept of walking in newness of life and the deliverance that comes from a yielded life.

Let us bow together in prayer. Lord Jesus, we pray that this may be not only the attitude but the act of our hearts in response to thy love and to thy lordship, not just a part but all of my heart. I will give all to thee. Grant this to be the response of hearts here today, not only in this service but as we move throughout this day, that the Lord Jesus will see of the travel of his soul and be satisfied in his people, because we ask it for his name's sake. Amen. I want you to turn with me to the epistle of Paul to the Romans. The epistle of Paul to the Romans. My dear friends here in Dallas, I do commend to you the unremitting study of the epistle of Paul to the Romans. I want to testify to the fact that the greatest changes that have ever taken in my life and character in relation to the message that we share with you these days has come out of a study and restudy of this wonderful epistle to the Romans, the greatest document on doctrine we have in the New Testament. There are more references to the Old Testament in this one epistle than all the other epistles put together. This seems to be the concentration of much prayer and study and research on the part of the Apostle Paul, illuminated and given by the inspiration of the Spirit when he came to set it on paper. He left the Church one of the greatest heritages. No wonder it's been called the Acropolis of the Christian faith. Here we have a whole sweep, the mighty sweep, of God's work for us in Christ. We're faced with condemnation, chapters 1 through 20, 1 through 220, then the mighty work of justification, covering chapters 321 to the end of that fifth chapter. Mighty statement on justification, what is needs to be made right with God, to appear before God in a favourable light. Chapters 6, 7 and 8 in particular, especially with that amazing, mysterious chapter 7, sandwiched between chapters 6 and 8, telling us the whole sweep of God's sanctifying work, the ministry of sanctification in our lives. We have that parenthesis, though inseparably bound to the rest of the epistle in chapters 9, 10 and 11, and then the glorification of the Christian. You say, what, on earth? Yes, on earth. Thanks there is glory in a day to come. But you know, when Paul speaks in chapter 8 of that which follows justification, he says, whom he called he justified and whom he justified he glorified. And I believe there is a glorification in the saints today, in the outreach of service to the far ends of the earth. And there is no greater statement on the outreach of service and church responsibility as there is in chapters 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. So we're going to concentrate on chapter 6. You know, I've had a tremendous challenge about this. I have several friends in England who've told me about a revival that has broken out in a place called Gillingham, in one of the Episcopalian churches. It's a revival that's had no publicity. It's a revival concerning which very little is being said. In fact, I wrote to the vicar of this particular church to ask him, and he wrote back very conservatively and said he didn't feel he wanted to share very much, lest in writing he might grieve the Holy Spirit and the mighty movement of the Spirit be quenched in that particular parish. But you know, people have been gathering together at four o'clock, five o'clock, six o'clock on the hour, right through until seven and work time just to meet for prayer. The church has been packed without any advertising any spending of money. Souls have been saved all over the place without any so-called public formal preaching. The life of Jesus breaking through by the mighty Spirit. Do you know when it started? When that vicar and his few colleagues got together to master the message of Romans chapter six. And God met them right there. In Romans chapter six. And while I can't attempt to deal with this chapter in its entirety this morning, in the time available, I want to just somehow wet your appetites to get to grips with this great chapter. And in following my brother this morning, I want to bring the other side of the truth that has been enunciated here this morning. Emphasis has been placed mainly, not solely, but mainly on the Lordship of Christ. I want to speak on the duty of yielding. The duty of yielding. Our part in response to the Lordship of Christ. The duty of yielding. We're going to read together some verses and then we'll come back to exposition. The opening up of the passage within its own context. I trust as you live with this chapter it's going to be more and more precious to you in the coming days. Verse 11. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but under grace. Verse 17. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. Being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. Verse 22. But now being made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. Speak Lord in the stillness while we wait on thee hushed our hearts to listen in expectancy for thy blessed name's sake amen. This chapter has been well called the proclamation of emancipation for it thrills and throbs from the first verse to the last with the message of victory and liberty in Christ. The key words in this chapter as you will notice with close study are the words know or knowing reckon and yield. I have only time this morning to deal with the last one particularly because I feel it fits into the context of what we're thinking of this morning and I want to speak very simply and very briefly on what I'm calling first of all the demands of a yielded life, the dynamic of a yielded life and the deliverance of a yielded life. The demands of a yielded life. The text says yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead but that statement is set in a context which needs very close understanding and application. Paul says first of all let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in and there are two things I want to say here very quickly in passing and they're these that this matter of yielding demands two things from every Christian here this morning. The first is the dethronement of sin and the other is the enthronement of God. First of all the dethronement of sin. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. My heart just warmed to that opening message of Dr. Alan Fleece on Monday when he brought home to us against the backdrop of the holiness of God the righteousness of God this matter of personal choice in this whole question of yieldedness and going on with God. I'm very sorry I have to say it but I've got to say it there are too many people who want all that Christ is but their sin is well but their sin is well. I looked into the face of a young lady in our own church the other day she's studying in one of the leading colleges of music and she came to me utterly broken this was the amazing thing about it utterly broken tears pouring down her face smashed under the power of the spirit of God in a given meeting and when I tried to counsel with her regarding this whole matter of going through with God and yielding everything to him there was a hesitancy and I couldn't somehow figure it out the more I pressed the more I realized that there was some barrier here and at last it came out she said I want to be all for Jesus Christ I want to yield everything to him but I just don't know how to give up lying with my professor every night a lonely girl in a great city studying music caught up with a fascination of a young professor and because she's caught up hypnotized as it were gripped by this thing in her life she became to came to the place where many Christians come of rationalizing away the whole matter and she wanted everything that Christ was and Lord of her life and all the rest of it but only so long as she could continue in her sin all we've been talking about this week and all we've been talking about this morning will get you nowhere unless you're prepared to make a choice today that you're going to be done with sin in your life in every form whatsoever let not sin reign as king Paul here characterizes or personalizes this concept of sin in terms of a king and he says you're not to allow sin to reign in your mortal body now as we shall see in a so that we can honestly say sin shall not have dominion in our lives will come later in the message but i'm talking now about the matter of the mind and the heart and the will as we were hearing in this matter of choice lord lord in as much as thou will give me the grace by thine indwelling self and by the power of the spirit to overcome sin I hereby choose that king sin shall not reign in my mortal body and that sin will have no place in my seeing or my speaking or my thinking or my working or my acting or my loving sin shall not reign in my mortal body will you make that choice right here and now will you make that choice right here and now somebody has said the greatest problem of the church today is the invasion of materialism into our circles i'm going to say that a greater problem that i'm facing as a pastor of a church is this the curious the curious rationalization that has come into our thinking a kind of rationalization that explains everything away in order to do as i like are you prepared to dethrone sin in your life this morning are you prepared to dethrone sin in your life this morning don't talk about yielding unless that's your choice i'd rather die lord i'd rather die i'd rather be pierced through the bullet than allow sin to reign in my mortal body this is my choice god can't do this for me this is my choice i have to choose to dethrone sin and as king it's not going to reign in my body it's not going to have the throne of my life if that is so then we move right on to the second demand the demands of a yielded life not only the dethronement of sin in your life but the enthronement of god in your life let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lusts thereof but yield yourselves unto god yield yourselves unto god and here paul sets before us god in all that he is in his eternal being in his great sovereignty as revealed in christ by the holy spirit the thought here is not only god the father but god the son and god the holy spirit who comes to dwell in us the total godhead yield yourselves unto god if you have dethroned sin by an act of your will your choice then enthrone god and the word yield here is a very important word it's the same word present in chapter 12 and 1 as we were hearing a little earlier it has its roots in an old testament word which means the handing over of a gift the handing over of a gift and here is my throne lord by choice i have dethroned sin sin will never sit upon that throne again in my life no never never never and i hand that throne over to you god father god son and holy spirit take possession of that throne of my life and i hand it over never but never to take it back again the whole idea you see is handing over a gift and you never hand over a gift to take it back again is that not right when you hand over a gift it is irrevocable when i hand over the throne of my heart it's not to experiment for a week in dallas to see just whether or not this kind of thing works it's not to try it out for a matter of weeks or months to see whether or not this truth is valid if i am really fair with the word of god and i hand over the throne of my life to the indwelling lord by his holy spirit i hand over that throne not for a day not for a week not for a month not for a year but forever forever when the lord jesus christ came out of eternity his language was low i come to do thy will oh my god thy laws within my heart to do the will of god and if ever we have a supreme example of total yieldedness to the father living in the power of the holy spirit it's our precious lord but you know i was tremendously impressed and amazed to discover a little while ago by the study of the word that the savior didn't recognize or didn't accept shall i put it his yieldedness to his father complete until the very end the very end of his life at any point along the line if he had withdrawn wonderful as that life was as man here upon earth he wouldn't have completed his total dedication to god until that moment when he cried listen carefully one word in the greek foolished which word means yielded dedicated consecrated and if any of you any one of you here intends to yield to yield it does involve a crisis but it involves the process it does involve an act but it involves an attitude which carries you right to the very end of your life until christ calls or comes and then forever it's irrevocable that is the demand of a yielded life the handing over the throne of that life until you can say at the end of your life finished dedicated dedicated yield yourselves unto god as those that are alive from the dead very quickly then the demands of a yielded life but moving quickly into what is my main burden to share with you this morning is what i'm going to call the dynamics of a yielded life now dynamics is a word used in the mechanical world but just as commonly used within the field of morality and in the field of morality by virtue of definition the word dynamics is used for the laws the laws that release forces and in this case spiritual forces that create in turn changes within the human personality and there are two tremendously important laws that we're going to look at here the dynamics of a yielded life the dynamics of a yielded life and if you don't understand what i'm going to say now i'm afraid the whole matter of the yielded life is not going to make very much sense nor is it going to bring very much transformation or change in your life neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness but yield yourselves unto god as those that are alive here it is alive from the dead alive from the dead now it's this aliveness this livingness that i want to lay hold of for a moment this aliveness or livingness presupposes presupposes something tremendously important which paul deals with here the first is the law of recognizing a redeeming fact recognizing a redeeming fact or to put it the other way a redeeming fact that we are to recognize a redeeming fact that we are to recognize yield yourself unto god as those that are alive from the dead and that aliveness presupposes a union with christ in death a union with christ in burial a union with christ in resurrection and i have found in my own personal experience and in the ministry of the years that where dedication seems to go all awry where consecration seems to go all awry in many meetings like this is that people come to god as it were just as they are and they say here i am lord but paul specifies that we're to yield ourselves to god as those that are alive from the dead are you say being born again oh no oh no that's included but he's writing to christians in the first instance he presupposes that what is this aliveness what is this livingness just being born again oh no it's something far more than that it's a redeeming fact that i have to recognize and i'm putting it in this three-way form because it's right here in the text first of all the recognition that i have died i have died with christ i have died with christ verse three know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into christ were baptized into his death look again at verse six knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be put out of business rendered inoperative destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin my friend as a born again person as a born again person you have to recognize this redeeming fact that when jesus died two thousand years ago on calvary's hill he died not only for you but you died with him and when he was nailed to the cross you were nailed to the cross just as surely just as really stephen olford you not only you not only receive forgiveness and pardon when you knelt at the cross but you recognize the redeeming fact that when jesus died two thousand years ago stephen olford you were nailed to the cross nailed to the cross and i'm going to say i don't care how much you talk about the lordship of christ or how much you talk about yielding to him unless that's the basis on which you yield your life today nothing will come of it nothing will come of it you say what you mean what you mean recognize the redeeming fact that you were united with christ in his death my friend i mean it just as surely as you first and foremost accepted christ as your savior and you said thank you lord jesus for dying for me just as surely as you did that you have to accept by faith the fact that you died with him and so far as your old life is concerned it's nailed to the cross your old life terminated two thousand years ago only you're asked to recognize the redeeming fact now the story is told of a gentleman who was a very fine christian man who knew the truth that we were talking about talking about he was riding in a railway compartment and as he sat down to open his books to read three other men came in opposite him and as soon as the train started off out came a pack of cards and they began to shuffle the cards to have a game and seeing him across the way one lonely man the spokesman for the three said have a hand have a hand join us have a hand and he looked back at them and he said i'm very sorry he said but i have no hands with utter astonishment three pairs of eyes focused on him he had his hands all right what do you mean you have no hands and very simply he said oh no these hands were crucified two thousand years ago the only hands i have are the savior's hands and they can't be employed in playing cards recognizing a redeeming fact recognizing a redeeming fact that everything i am in the flesh everything i am in terms of the old life was nailed to the cross two thousand years ago union with christ not only in death but union with christ will you notice in burial now here is a tremendously important thing recognizing a redeeming fact christ died for our sins says the gospel and he was buried and he was buried why does paul why does paul insist on the burial of christ why doesn't he say he just died and he rose again why bring in the matter of burial why my friend because it's a tremendously important a tremendously important truth and paul deals more with the matter of burial actually in romans 6 than he does even with the death knowing not though so many of us as were baptized into jesus christ were baptized into death therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death buried with him by baptism into death you see my friend if death spells the termination of the old life burial puts it right out of sight burial puts it right out of sight when a jewish person or a hebrew person died there was no delay in this matter of burial he was soon wrapped up with aloes and myrrh and put into the tomb seven days of mourning but no jew looked upon a dead body very long out of sight paul catches up that hebrew thought and he brings it here but he brings it with a deep deep spiritual meaning he takes up a mere hebrew concept and baptizes it into the full doctrine of this identification with christ let me illustrate what i mean i don't know anything that has blessed my soul more than the doctrine of the burial of our lord jesus christ in relation to the life of victory some of you heard my testimony the other day and will remember how i said that i came to the savior in this yieldedness and this surrender and this experience first the fullness of the spirit out of a life of backsliding and very serious backsliding not very months after i had been liberated and released into christ i remember giving my testimony at a meeting and even as i gave my testimony halfway through it seemed as if the devil himself as the accuser of the brethren suddenly appeared in all his reality i could almost visualize him but certainly sensed his presence and he whispered into my ear right in the middle of my testimony you hypocrite look at the kind of life you lived and you have been living over the past months and you have the gall to stand up and tell these people about victory in christ and you know friends it paralyzed me for weeks i was in the slough despond i went into a state of introspection i went into a state of defeat i went into a state of despair until my mother thought i was going out of my mind i heard of a meeting that was going on very much like this where a very wonderful mystery by the name of george young was ministering the word of god and you know what he was ministering on i think that's why i love romans romans 5 6 7 and 8 and he was in romans 6 this particular day and he got up and he said something like this i was sure somebody had told him about me he said i wonder if there's a young man here and he didn't say young woman he just said young man here i wonder if there's some young man here whose testimony has been paralyzed or whose testimony has been spoiled and whose witness doesn't count for anything because the devil the devil has taken occasion of your past life and all that you are in and of yourself to accuse you and to bring you into despair he said i want to tell that young man and i want to tell anyone else here that that that is the devil's way of bringing christians into utter defeat and it's because you don't know my friend you don't know my friend the doctrine of the burial of our lord jesus christ and then he went on to say this when christ died your old life was terminated when christ was buried he took that old life and he buried it he buried it young man young man what are you doing visiting that cemetery and digging up digging up the old bones again and then he said this amazing statement any attempt to go back into the old life and dig up that which god has crucified god has condemned god has buried is a violation of your oneness with christ in burial a redeeming fact to recognize is simply this simply this my friend that when christ died i died that's the old life finished when christ was buried my old life was put into the grave and god doesn't want to see that i don't want to see it and if the devil comes knocking at the door i say i'm not here the savior is in here but doesn't stephen olford live here no he's out of sight where is he's at the cemetery what is he doing there buried forgotten i'm not suggesting for a moment that the spirit of god can't convict us and cause us to examine ourselves regarding anything that intercepts fellowship any cloud that comes across our spiritual skies we will say yesterday must be exposed in openness and cleansing received from our wonderful gracious lord but this confounded introspection that goes in and digs up all that's there that god is already condemned and crucified and buried is a violation of our oneness with christ in burial i've seen more christians go to lunatic asylums on this issue of introspection than for any other reason thank god when he died i died when he was buried i was buried but it means something more than that it means union with christ in resurrection for he came out of the grave he came out of the grave and i want to say here this morning that the release of the resurrection life of jesus christ in us can never be experienced except on the basis of my recognition of death and burial that's what romans 8 13 really means if we live after the flesh we shall die but if we through the spirit to mortify the deeds of the body we shall live in other words in other words if we live in the flesh trying to copy christ and trying to yield ourselves in ourselves and try to say lord here i am yielded you are lord of my life lord of my flesh in that sense we never know the release of the resurrection life of christ but if we come to him saying lord the old man's dead he has no place in this and he's buried and on the basis of this i am counting upon your holy spirit i'm counting upon your holy spirit not only to apply the killing power of the cross to my self-life not only counting on the holy spirit to apply the burying power of the savior in my life but i'm counting on the holy spirit to release the resurrection life of christ and out comes the mighty power of the risen life of christ a redeeming fact to recognize yields cells as those that are alive from the dead alive in what sense alive in the sense that by virtue of presupposition i have been united with christ in death i have been reunited with christ in burial and i'm reunited in christ in resurrection but very very hastily because of time the other law is one we've anticipated but one i want to underline and it's just this recognize a redeeming fact but exercise a responding faith recognize a redeeming fact what is that redeeming fact that i have died i have been buried i have been raised that's all taught here but now exercise exercise a responding faith likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto god through our lord jesus christ in other words this is an accountant's term reckon on the fact test the fact put it to the test may i illustrate it this way when abraham lincoln abraham lincoln signed the proclamation of emancipation for the slaves throughout this country every slave was judicially free the moment the ink touched the paper but no slave was free unless they did three things which are involved in this word reckoning which are involved in this responding faith one they had to know that their proclamation had been signed number two they had to believe it and number three they had to act upon it i believe that when the lord jesus christ shed his blood at calvary's cross stephen olford stephen olford was nailed to the cross and his old life was terminated i believe that when he was buried i was buried with him so that the old life was put out of sight and now because of that i act upon that truth and i move out in faith and as i yield myself to him i yield as one who has died with christ who has been buried with christ and who is alive to a completely new dimension of life a new principle of life and by faith i act upon it like the lad i talked to some while ago and i said well how you're getting on in your christian life oh he had he had had an awful time an awful time with a temptation in his life the temptation that i needn't discuss but he was beaten crippled by it he said to me he said pastor that old thing is crucified in fact it's buried i don't even go to the cemetery he knew this truth i don't even go to the cemetery and he says when when the devil does try to remind me of this and he knocks at the door i said lord would you mind answering the door the resurrection life of christ released by the holy spirit the dynamics the dynamics of a yielded life the demands the dethronement of sin i choose in my mind in my heart and my will that i am never going to allow that throne of my life to be occupied by sin the enthronement of god god in christ by the holy spirit taking over the throne of that life but only on the basis of my aliveness to him that i accept the redeeming fact that i am dead buried yes at risen and a responding faith that i reckon upon that i reckon upon that in every situation of the life and what is the result of all this what is the deliverance of a yielded life only a sentence or two our time has gone only a sentence or two what is the deliverance i yield yourselves unto god as those that are alive from the dead and certain things follow certain things follow this aliveness to god this walking in newness of life as we were hearing about yesterday this walking in newness of life is a tremendous concept that word newness of life by the way only occurs in this form it isn't a quality of life so much as a principle of life the principle of life that now dominates my heart in life and as a matter of fact that's supported by the use of the word walk it only occurs one other time in the epistle of peter where peter talks about the lion walking about seeking whom he may devour whom he may devour i was born in the jungles of central africa and i've seen that monarch of the field walk across the jungles of africa i've stood on the veranda or patio of our mystery home there and i've seen that majestic beast absolutely dominant completely confident its bellowing roar causing everyone to tremble with fear and the whole idea behind this walking is no apology for the walking i'm moving out in absolute freedom knowing that you're a master of the situation why because you have a principle of life now dominating you that is conqueror of every situation and that dominant life of course is the lord jesus and three things i want to say about this life it's the life of victory it's a life of victory for sin shall not have dominion over you for you're not under the law but under grace it's a life of victory now let me say as we've been saying all along that sin sin in its in its root sin in its nature sin in its principle in our lives will remain with us until the day of redemption but thank god thank god when we choose that only one is going to reign upon that throne and when we choose that our own life so far as its past is concerned its pressures is concerned its programs of concern everything else was nailed to the cross when we accept the fact that buried with christ that's all out of sight and there's a new quality and principle of life which is now to dominate us when we are agreed on that i want to tell you this i want to tell you this where that life is dominant sin no longer has dominion no dominion i'm no longer dominated by sin why it may be dormant but it's not dominant it may be present but it's not present it may be there but it's not master why because another force has come into operation another force has come into operation it's a force of counteraction it's a force that overcomes the gravitation of the old nature just like the law of aeronautics overcomes the force of gravitation when that great throttle is pushed forward and that mighty jet moves through the air with such power that you're thrown back into your seats beyond the clouds beyond the fog into sunlight so we're carried soaring above everything that would pull us down why because of a new principle of life yes the life of victory secondly the life of purity look at that amazing statement that i speak after the manner of men verse 19 because of the infirmity of your flesh for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even now so yield your members of servants to righteousness unto holiness the holiness and righteousness spoken of here is not the imputed righteousness which the believers had already experienced at this point in the unfolding of truth it's the imparted life of jesus jesus my righteousness all his beauty all his excellency all his virtue all his charm all his sweetness all his holiness now breaking through my life breaking through my life the life of purity in every situation the life of purity you know the greatest challenge the greatest challenge i believe to the world of today with all its broken morals with all its sin with all its debauchery would be a company of holy people just holy people you know i know it as an evangelist i know it as an evangelist you get a group of people coming into a gospel service who are just exuding exuding manifesting demonstrating the holiness and sweetness and charm of the lord jesus and you'll sense the conviction of god the holy ghost why the very holiness of god's people shows up the unholiness and the spirit of god is able to convict of sin and of righteousness and of judgment holy people holiness unto the lord holiness one last word and it must be just the last word because the time has gone not only a life a victory sin shall not have dominion over you a life of holiness servants to righteousness unto holiness but another ingredient in this deliverance of a yielded life is a life of utter loyalty but now being made free from sin and become servants to god born slaves to god born slaves to god ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life listen my friend loyalty all for loyalty all for loyalty all for loyalty to come back again into the church of jesus christ loyalty victory yes that's one ingredient in deliverance purity yes but loyalty loyalty to god born slaves to god you know what the picture is behind that word and i'm sure paul had it in mind the very word you servant here is the word used of that hebrew servant who having found his master to be the only master he ever wants to live with says i will not go out free i will not go out free i want my master i want to live with my master and he's taken to the doorpost or to the door of the house and his ear is bored with an all and as that blood trickles down and as that mark remains in his ear everybody knows that he's sold out to his master he's utterly utterly the lords utterly his masters and we utterly the lords in utter loyalty principal maxwell a prairie bible institute told a story a little while ago in one of our conventions that deeply moved me and illustrates this point of loyalty told the story of a very wealthy family had a charming daughter who did extremely well at university and was sent to europe for a finishing school polish up on her dancing and also on her arts while she was at this school one evening she heard some singing and she steeled in to a hall that was packed with young people and she heard the most amazing message she'd ever heard in her life never heard the gospel like it before never knew that christianity represented this radiant transforming christ and in her heart of hearts right in that meeting she accepted christ as her wonderful savior and lord so amazed was she with what had happened in her life that she sat down and she wrote her father and told her all about it the father no sooner read that letter when he sent a telegram straight away to europe and said come home at once i command you to come home at once the girl perplexed and bewildered packed up her bags got into the plane she was met at the airport by a chauffeur and was driven to this great mansion in britain where she stood on the doorstep while her father white and shaking with rage came and said what is all this business concerning religion for half nick half wits i never paid all that money for university i didn't pay all that money for europe training european training that you should sell it out to religion like this unless you're finished with all this business out you go the girl stood there not even in the house and said father would you give me a few moments to think it over she went into the house and she was shown into the lounge she shut the door quietly and she sat there almost numb with the impact of her father's words then she dropped to her feet to her knees she looked up into the lovely face of her lord and she said lord jesus lord jesus thou has saved me thou has become my life i cannot deny thee i must be loyal to thee and a quiet peace stole into her heart she got up from her knees and she went over to the piano had a lovely voice and she began to play and the words she sang were these words jesus i my cross have taken all to leave and follow thee destitute despised forsaken thou from hence my life shall be perish every fond ambition all i've sought and hoped and known yet how rich is my condition god and heaven are still my own as her voice and the music penetrated the wall of that lounge the door opened and in came a father with a tear streaming down his face daughter daughter he said i never knew jesus christ meant so much to you can you tell a wicked old father how he may find him too and i'm telling you heaven kissed earth as a young daughter radiant with christ and loyal to christ led an old wicked father to jesus christ loyalty this is the yielded life the demands are clear the dethronement of sin the enthronement of god the laws are clear the recognition of a redeeming fact that my old life is finished dead with christ buried with christ now risen with christ a responding faith that acts upon this and moves out to live a life which is not my own and the results of a yielded life victory purity loyalty right through to the end of the journey let us pray one quiet moment then we'll be dismissed are you prepared to fulfill the demands of a yielded life to choose this morning that never never never will sin reign in your mortal body and that having handed over that throne of your heart in life it'll never never be taken back again and that the basis upon which you're going to live the life is the recognition that your old life is terminated you're not going to feed or foster it it's dead it's more than that it's buried and that the only life that matters is the life that comes out of that death and burial which is jesus and that by faith you're reckoning upon him your response is to a new life which is jesus and you're going to say with the apostle paul i have been crucified with christ nevertheless i live yet not i but christ liveth in me and the life which i now live in the flesh in this body i live by faith a new principle a rest of faith in the indwelling son of god who loved me and gave himself for me let him demonstrate victory in purity and loyalty in your home in your church in your business world will you just look up into his face and say i yield i yield i yield so lord jesus we pray that thy love may conquer that we shall be able to say as one of old jesus lord and master love divine has conquered i will answer yes to all thy will freed from satan's bondage i am thine forever henceforth all thy purposes in me fulfill for thy dear name's sake amen